Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Even the best GPS can't get you to 222 North 20th Street...

if you tell it to take you to 222 South 20th Street.

But it sure can correct the problem fast and get you back on track!

We ventured into downtown Philadelphia today for the Franklin Institute (science museum) monthly free evening. We have only been there once since we moved here 1.5 years ago (yeah, can you believe we've been here that long?) and the kids have really wanted to go. Admission is pretty pricey, and then of course there's the parking, and the hassle of getting there, but we heard about the free evenings and decided to check it out. After attending four free evenings, we can "earn" a year's membership.

Now we hadn't gone downtown since an incident last fall wherein we drove around for 4 hours and went home without reaching our destination. A couple people suggested a GPS. Well, thanks to some deep discounts and Christmas, we have one now.

Gladys is very helpful and fun to have around. And it's amazing how they managed to make her voice sound annoyed when she says "recalculating" whenever we don't do as she says. We've had her along many times but today's trip downtown was the real test. It all went well till I realized my mistake on the address. We were only 4/5 of a mile off, but that can take a long time during rush hour.

After leaving the museum we rejoined her in the car and joyfully asked her to take us home. We had a few bad moments when she had trouble finding the satellite, and then a few minutes later when she was telling us to make turns we'd already taken. But she regrouped quickly and we found our way home without any trouble.

Oh, and the parking was actually easy, and only $9 - pretty good for the area. I'd told the kids I wasn't buying any food so the boy filled my purse with provisions (about 18 rolls of smarties leftover from something) and we hit the water fountains periodically. And then as we left they thanked me profusely and repeatedly for bringing them. That was probably the closest I'll ever get to them rising up and calling me blessed. How can I not do it again? Especially with Gladys along to help me.

2 comments:

Sandy said...

What happened to your last post? I thought it was good. I think it's a tension all blogging moms feel- how much time on the computer is ok? Is it healthy for my kids if I set a boundry and say they can't talk to me right now, or is it putting something ahead of them and making them feel they have to wait in line? I go back and forth on it; I think most moms do.

Marbel said...

Sandy - I decided I needed to work on it a little more. It'll be back, I think. You actually brought up one of the things I thought needed a little work - ignoring our kids or setting boundaries on our time...